A Greatness Hidden From Most
by ConcerningMalec
Summary: Magnus Bane is part of an envoy representing the warlocks on its way to a party held in the castle at Alicante. After finding himself briefly stranded by his friends, he finds himself meeting an alluring hunter in the forest. This boy is obviously hiding a part of his life from those around him and Magnus wants to uncover all he can about him.
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks for looking at this! I constantly feel like my writing is a bit too slow and tedious to read so I wanted to try writing a bit from Magnus' perspective and not just Alec's. Finger's crossed! :D**

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Magnus Bane plucked at the invisible strings hanging in the air, bored out of his mind. As he did so, the sounds of a gentle harp chimed through the carriage. Catarina, his ever loyal friend, gave him her famously stern look that said 'you shouldn't waste your magic like that.'

With a jolt from the carriage slipping off the road a bit, Magnus loses his concentration and the strings let out a guttural noise. Magnus pouts at Catarina's satisfied 'I told you' look.

"Cat, are we there yet? You know I can't take sitting still this long," Magnus says, throwing his hands above his head dramatically.

Catarina turns the page of her book, not bothering to look up at him. "Magnus, I need you to look outside the carriage."

Tentatively, Magnus peeks through the window in the door. "Right. . . Okay," he says not seeing anything in particular.

"Tell me what you see," She says, again flipping the page of her book.

"There're trees, I guess. Some rocks."

Catarina looks up at Magnus quickly with wide eyes and mock surprise. "Really? Then I guess we aren't there yet!"

Magnus huffs and slumps back into the seat, petting between the ears of his cat. "You're awful, Catarina."

The two sit in silence for a solid thirty seven seconds before Magnus starts humming. Catarina's mouth hardens into a tight line as she chooses to ignore her insufferable _friend_. She almost manages it too, but of course Magnus has to pick the cat up and slow dance with him while humming 'Beautiful Dreamer.' It wouldn't even have been so bad if he weren't completely tone deaf.

Deciding enough was enough once Magnus decided to teach his cat how to 'cha-cha,' Catarina reaches over to him, grabbing the cat from him, before giving him another 'look' and saying "go ride with Ragnor." Swishing her hand and distorting the air in from of her, she forces open the door and tosses Magnus from the carriage, barely hearing him yell "but he's so mean!" before closing the door again.

Catarina settles back into her seat, Magnus' cat purring softly next to her. "I know, Chairman Meow," she says, absently patting his head and smiling slowly. "So much better."

Magnus lands with a thud on the dirt road and in the trail of dust, making him cough. "Some friend she is, stealing my cat from me." Magnus stands while patting off the dirt from his clothes, grimacing at the tear in his pant leg. "I just got these, too!" He looks back down the road for Ragnor's carriage trailing about a hundred metres behind. When it nears, he climbs the step and throws the door wide, greeting his green-skinned friend with a wide smile.

Ragnor opens one of his eyes, makes a frown, and closes it again. "No, Magnus."

Magnus puts on his best pout for his for his best friend. "Oh come on Raggy-Baby, Cat magicked me out! If you kick me out too, I'll have to walk the rest of the way to Alicante!" He flops onto the seat, resting his head on Ragnor's lap. "And then I'll be tired and dirty and I won't be any fun at the party and everyone will laugh at me for not having my own carriage! Me, a high warlock!" Ragnor's eyebrows furrow, missing the long gone tranquility of his space. Magnus, oblivious as usual to Ragnor's wants, continues. "I mean if it were you it would be fine!" **eye twitch** "People expect that sort of behaviour from _regular_ warlocks-" **eye twitch** "- but me? I'm a HIGH warlock! A certain level of respectability comes the tittle!" **full facial spasm**

Magnus watches as Ragnor slowly opens his eyes, his smile – in Magnus' humble opinion – looking much too evil.

Brushing himself off for a second time in the trail of dust, Magnus gawks at the tail end of Ragnor's carriage. "Honestly?! People have such little respect for greatness!" He kicks at the rocks on the side of the road. "I'll show them," he mumbles, stepping off the path into the woods. "I'll cut through here, take a short cut and be there before they even get to the castle walls."

Despite his initial motivation, Magnus quickly finds himself a tad lost and tired of his adventure through the forest. He had to admit it though, the woods of Idris were really beautiful. They weren't particularly magical but Magnus felt the stoic beauty of the giant cedar trees that seemed to stretch to the sky.

When he came to a shallow valley with a stream running through it, Magnus let himself get distracted by a full-looking bush with little golden berries on it. After casting as quick spell for to check for poison, he began eating them quickly, his stomach only now reminding him how much energy his little parlor-trick spells cost.

He had somehow managed to nearly pick the bush clean when he freezes at the rustling of foliage in a glen some distance away. Magnus stands slowly, swallowing his mouthful and cleaning off his hands as he creeps toward the sound. He was feeling stupid for going through the forest now that he heard the sounds of the creature ravishing its prey. He had heard the forest of these parts, despite their mundane qualities, could actually keep some of the more vicious creatures known. Preparing his magic to defend himself, Magnus crouches only a short distance from the sounds of crunching.

He puts his hand through the thick greenery, his heart racing in preparation for a fight. Parting it to get a glimpse of the beast and sighing with relief, Magnus leans forward and sticks his hand out to the beast. The beast being an abnormally fat bunny.

"You, mister bunny, gave me quite the fright," he says, trying to get the thing to hop closer. "Chairman betrayed me for that blue woman, so I may as well betray him."

The bunny makes a cute face like it understood him, making Magnus smile brightly and squeal internally. "You, you adorable little thing, must let me hug you." The bunny hops a bit closer to his hand sniffing the air.

Magnus moves to close the distance, but just as he nears its fur, Magnus feels his hand covered in something warm. A bit confused, he looks down at his hand seeing it now covered in warm blood. His eyes go wide as he gawks at the adorable bunny now adorned with a slender arrow through its neck, its blood seeping into its white fur.

Magnus falls back and sits on the ground, stunned for a minute, before snapping out of it at the sound of someone moving quickly through the greenery. He prepares himself to berate whoever it is for killing such an adorable creature, but as a boy about his own physical age stands startled in front of him, Magnus finds all of the fight in him melt away. The boy's Face was mostly covered by a hood but he could see a strong jaw and delicate looking pale skin, and he could tell he was looking between the body of the bunny and Magnus' hand covered in blood, seemingly having troubles connecting things together.

Before Magnus has a chance to say anything, the boy turns his gaze toward his feet and plays with the hem of his shirt. "Sorry."

 _Cute,_ Magnus thinks before furrowing his eyebrows. _This guy just covered you in blood and you think he's cute?_ Deciding to play with him a bit, Magnus steps over the carcass so it was no longer between them. "You shouldn't be sorry," his tone serious, "I'm unarmed so now's your chance to hit your actual target."

The boy's hand grips his shirt tightly, no longer fidgeting. "I really am sorry, I promise I wasn't aiming for you." Magnus takes note that his voice is wavering just the slightest.

Smirking at the boy's nervous behaviour, Magnus takes a few steps closer to the boy. "Darling, I don't think you almost killing me is any way to say you like me." The boy's face immediately looks up at Magnus, completely shocked, blushing intensely, his eyes wide. And that's when Magnus saw them. The boy had the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen. Big and blue and swimming with life, Magnus found himself gazing at the jewels hidden beneath his hood.

"I - I wasn't trying to say I like you - I didn't even know you were there!" The two keep their eyes locked for a minute until the boy bites his lip and looks away. _Really cute!_ Magnus mentally slaps himself for being weird.

The two stand awkwardly for a while, neither entirely sure what the etiquette for conversation is in the middle of the forest. Magnus takes the first move, sticking his hand out to the boy. "I'm Magnus by the way. Magnus Bane." The boy takes his hand cautiously. Magnus notices how soft his hands are despite obviously being a hunter.

"Nice to meet you," he mumbles. "I'm Alec Ligh-" Magnus curiously follows _Alec's_ eyes flitter between things laying in the forest. "Deadrock," he finishes. "Alec Deadrock." Turning around, Magnus looks between the dead rabbit and a large rock nearby, before giving him a questioning look.

"I'm going to ignore your blatant lying and move on." Alec _Deadrock_ blushes and avoids Magnus' gaze. "You don't happen to know which way the castle at Alicante is from here, do you?" Magnus raises an eyebrow when the boy blanches and starts to fidget again.

"I do. I'm going back there now." Magnus smiles brightly at Alec making the red come back to his face. "Perfect, you can take me with you!" He motions for Alec to get walking but instead he goes to get the rabbit. "I can't leave this to waste, I promised to bring something back to the kitchens."

Magnus grimaces as Alec ties the carcass in burlap clothe and clips it to a strap over his shoulder. Then, before they set off Alec reaches for Magnus' hand making him startle, shocked at Alec's forwardness. "You still have blood on your arm," he says, wiping away the drying substance. _Oh,_ he thinks, blushing just the tiniest bit for jumping to conclusions.

As the two walked through the woods – in a direction Magnus would have thought to have been the wrong way, he might add – he got a good chance to look at Alec with his hood down. Magnus had to admit that his stomach did a few flips every time he looked him over. Pale and delicate skin, dark hair that was messy but still kinda hot, his body obviously fit from the way his clothes lay. That was one of the problems though. His clothes were boring. Not overly ugly or anything, but just the regular looking forest green and brown outfit of the common huntsman. Magnus sighed outwardly thinking about how great it would be to dress the boy up in his own finery.

Alec glanced in his direction biting his lip. "We're almost there. When we get to the walls I'll direct you to the gates and I'll take the back way in."

Magnus gives him a genuine smile. "Its fine I'll take the back entrance with you. I'd rather not have the court see me covered in dirt and blood."

Alec keeps looking ahead, the beginnings of a smile pulling at his mouth. "So are you here for the party tonight?"

"That I am, I came as part of an envoy representing the warlocks." He smiles at Alec's shocked expression.

"You're a _warlock?_ Why didn't you say something earlier?" He blinks a few times before giving a pointed look. "' _Unarmed'_ my ass. You could have taken me out before I had an arrow strung. Plus you could have just used a clairvoyance spell to get out of the forest!"

Magnus laughs and nudges Alec with his shoulder. "Firstly, I was feeling lazy, and secondly I have a strong belief that one should never break pretty things." He smiles and winks at Alec, eliciting a nice blush to cover his cheeks. _Officially too cute._

Eventually they approached the high white and blue walls of the Alicante's castle, separated from the rest of the city by about a kilometre of woods. Under the shadow of the walls, Alec pulls his hood back up and avoids the gaze of passing guards. When they get to the rear courtyard between the stables and the kitchens, Alec stops to turn to Magnus, shifting his weight between his feet and looking around nervously.

"I'm sorry again for almost shooting you today in the forest."

Magnus smiles for the umpteenth time at Alec's adorableness. "All in all I think seeing such a cute creature murdered in front of me was actually alright considering I got to meet you because of it." He smirks at Alec and takes his arm, hovering his other hand over it. As sparks start to lick at Alec's pale skin, he starts to panic a bit. "What are you – oh." Alec stares at his arm seeing a tree with acorns hanging from it pictured on his forearm. When he looked at it straight on he could see the leaves and branches move a little bit, like his arm movements were jostling it. "It's. . . Beautiful. But why?"

"So that I can find you tonight at the party, even if it is a masquerade."

Alec blanches, trying to rub away the artwork. "I'm not going to it. Servants aren't allowed to go."

"Rubbing it isn't going to work so you may as well stop trying." He half smiles at Alec's exasperated expression. "And I don't know why such a pretty noble like you is gallivanting through the forest hunting cute, innocent bunnies, but you and I both know 'Deadrock' is the _worst_ fake name in the history of fake names. But I digress. You're something else, Alec _Deadrock_ , a mystery just too alluring to let alone. And you can only blame yourself for that."

Alec opens his mouth to protest but the sound of people walking across the courtyard stops him. He glances over to see a woman with blue skin walking briskly toward them, pulling a grumpy looking guy with green skin behind her.

"Uh oh, I gotta go. I'll see you tonight at the party. Even if you deny that you're going." Without a second glance, Magnus runs to meet them half way leaving Alec alone at the entrance to the kitchens.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well would you look at that. Thanks for reading this even if you can't remember anything that was happening because I am the very bane of punctuality when it comes to updating at a reasonable speed. Thanks again :D**

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Alec Lightwood was panicking. Well mostly panicking. Part of him was also oddly excited and giddy and happy and a mix of other emotions (including a hint of anger). But yeah back to panicking. After the warlock – Magnus he eventually learned – left him at the kitchens Alec ran through the kitchens, basically threw the fat rabbit to their cook Mrs. Pangborn, and went to his rooms to calm down. He knew he shouldn't have brought Magnus back to the castle. He should have left him there and hope he'd get lost on his way to Alicante, but something about the warlock was just so otherworldly, Alec didn't want to leave him.

He threw water on his face at the basin and tried to clean the smell of the rabbit and the woods off his body before getting dressed into his regular clothing. With his shirt off, he sees again the tree magicked onto his arm. He'd grant that it truly was beautiful and a real big part of him loved the feeling of Magnus' magic moving across his arm, but he knew questions would be asked if anyone saw it. So knowing there was no other way, Alec went to the one person he knew could help AND keep her mouth shut. His sister.

Alec stood outside her door, contemplating if maybe running away and becoming an actual commoner would be the better option here. Deciding against it he knocked. Within moments the door was flung open revealing his sister barely out of bed.

"There better be a good reason as to why you're waking me up so goddamn early."

"Izzy it's half past two in the afternoon. Let me in, I need your help."

Izzy eyes Alec suspiciously before moving to let him in. Alec goes straight to his spot on her bed, still covering his forearm. She immediately looks pointedly at the spot he was hiding. "What's with your arm? And why do you look so panicky?"

Alec shows her his arm and looks away sheepishly.

Izzy just raises her eyebrow rather unimpressed. "So you got a tattoo? I have one too Alec, so does Jace. It's not a big deal." Alec furrows his eyebrows wondering where the hell his siblings had tattoos and then regretting it.

Exasperated, he shakes his head. "It's not a regular tattoo Izzy, a warlock magicked it on me." Izzy stared briefly before laughing at him. "Hey it's really not funny! How am I supposed be in the same room as mom and dad with this thing covering my arm?!"

"Firstly Alec, I don't believe you that a warlock did this. Secondly if a warlock did do this to you, why would they? You must have done something to annoy them, and thirdly, who cares if mum and dad see it? If they make a big deal of it, Jace and I will show them where ours are and I can assure you, yours will be forgotten!"

Izzy starts to lift the skirt of her dress up and Alec shields his eyes. "FIRSTLY I DO NOT NEED TO KNOW WHERE YOU OR JACE HAVE TATTOOS." He peeks through his fingers and sighs with relief when she stops going any further. "Secondly, it is a big deal if mum and dad see it. I'm the good child. The oldest and the responsible one. I can't let think I did something stupid."

Izzy watches him expectantly. "I believe you haven't answered one of my questions, Alexander."

Alec fumbles with his shirt for a second, mumbling a bit incoherently.

"Speak up, I don't have the ears of a faerie."

"I said the warlock thought I was 'alluring.' Or something like that. So he wanted a way to know who I am at the party tonight."

Izzy smiles widely and wiggles her eyebrows, making Alec's neck blush. "Oh ho ho Alec darling. Sounds like you got some hot man meat to hang on your arm tonight." Alec stares her shocked. "Izzy, that's weird, don't say stuff like that."

She smacks his shoulder lightly, giving him a disapproving look. "We've been through this already, Alec." She smiles at him innocently. "When it comes to sex and love, you and I have more in common than you and Jace. You want dick. Jace will go for dick too but only when he's very very drunk. The age old term 'heteroflexible' comes to mind."

Alec rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I know. It's still weird though. And I really don't want to talk about Jace and dicks." He blushes at the word.

"So where'd you meet him and on a scale of one to Jem-Carstairs-and-Will-Herondale-in-a-compromising-position, how hot was he?"

"I am not answering that." He swats her arm away as she tries to nudge him on. "I mean it Izzy, I am not using your bizarre system of measurement to tell you how hot he is."

Izzy smiles mischievously and lowers head to seem more ominous. "Sounds to me like you found him _very_ sexy." Alec groans loudly and flumps backwards on bed, his hands covering his face in exasperation. "I met him in the forest while doing some hunting. I may have almost shot him." Izzy looks at him briefly with wide eyes. "It wasn't my fault!" He waves dismissively, "there was a massively fat rabbit, he was lost, I was in hunter-mode, he seemed a bit stunned in general - it was a bit of a mess."

"I bet it was." Izzy joins him and lays down with her head propped on an elbow. "Now just ignoring your sexy warlock who apparently found you 'alluring' even after you almost shot him, why were you in the forest again? Alec I thought we agreed you would stop sneaking out like some peasant to go hunting." Alec opens his mouth but she raises a hand to stop him from answering. "I don't care what you have to say. We both know it's not safe out there, especially if you get caught. Not to mention despite being the 'good child,' I doubt mum and dad would be particularly proud if they caught you in poor people's clothes."

Again rolling his eyes, Alec makes to get up, running his hand through his hair in an attempt to claim its messiness. "Whatever Izzy, its fine so just leave it. It's probably time to get ready for the party tonight. Have you found me a mask yet?"

Startling Alec she jumps up quickly and nearly runs to a package on her writing desk, unfolding it gently. "I am so proud of it, I got it specifically to highlight your eyes as well as your bone structure!" Izzy turns to face Alec holding a delicate looking mask glimmering in the light.

Alec feels his breath leave him, stunned at its magnificence. "Oh Izzy, it's . . . really beautiful."

* * *

"No. Out of the question."

Magnus frowns at Catarina's sternness. "But he really wants to come! He would love it, this is just cruel!"

"Remember the last time you brought him to a party? He hid under a table the entire night," Ragnor chimes in, using his magic to heat a cup of coffee.

Magnus rolls his eyes, picking Chairman Meow up in a hug. "They're lying, Chairman, you loved it didn't you?" Catarina snorts quietly as the Chairman struggles to escape an oblivious Magnus.

She turns to him, pulling the cat away. "You can't bring him, end of story. Besides you're representing our sector of warlocks at this party and I doubt anyone wants you looking like a crazy cat person." Magnus pouts but sits on the bed and doesn't argue.

Flicking her wrist, Catarina magicks open her wardrobe, drawing out a black rhinestone dress and holding it up to the mirror.

"Nice dress if you mean to look like a wicked witch of the west," Magnus mutters, a little grouchy.

"As a female warlock, I take offense to that. And I got this from my Aunt."

"The dead one?" Magnus asks, cocking an eyebrow and moving to stand behind Catarina in the mirror.

Catarina shrugs. "It was in her closet. She'd worn it maybe two times. I'm frugal." Huffing, she throws Ragnor a look. "What do you think? Too Eye-of-newt?"

Ragnor looks both of them over and makes a face, turning back to the window with his coffee. "I'll concede that a blue skinned warlock wearing a black evening gown does have an air of the witching-hour."

Magnus starts to rummage through Catarina's luggage, savouring his victory. Eventually he pulls out a white 50s chiffon dress with a blue sash at the waist and small flowers on the skirt. He throws it at her, frowning. "Why you would to choose the old dead lady dress over this beautiful thing, I'll never know. Now get dressed, we need to be on time."

Catarina and Ragnor both look at each other in slight confusion. Magnus rolls his eyes, and forces Ragnor toward the door. "Yes I know, Magnus there's-always-time-for-a-cocktail Bane wants to be on time for once. Just get dressed," he says shutting the door.

Before they could get far, Ragnor grabs at Magnus' arm forcing him to stop. "What's going on Magnus, you're being moody and weird."

Magnus shrugs but Ragnor holds his gaze, not about to accept any fleeting answers. "I may or may not have magicked a tattoo onto a cute boy so I could find him later at the party without ripping off every man's mask," he concedes, crossing his arms and taking a defensive posture.

Ragnor holds his gaze for a moment longer, ultimately rolling his eyes and walking past Magnus further down the hallway. "You're a grown warlock Magnus, much older than me-"

"Hey, it's impolite to talk about a lady's age," Magnus cuts in.

"Enough, Magnus. You're older than me so it's up to you how you go about your business," he continues, stopping to face Magnus. "However, if I hear so much of a whisper about how you cast a spell on some nobleman's son and proceeded to harass him, so help me god-"

"Lillith-"

"-I will go right back to the spiral tower and get them to lock you up for trying to ruin this alliance." Magnus cows slightly, swallowing lightly. "I mean it. You know just as well as I do what our being here means for the alliance. The Nephilim hate us almost as much as they see us as tools and I refuse to let them have good reason for their opinions." He holds eye contact for what seemed like ages before relaxing his shoulders and waving his hand dismissively. "Go get ready, wouldn't want your new boy toy to be disappointed by your outfit tonight."

Magus smirks, abandoning all ill feeling he had a moment before. "Thank you Raggy Baby," he says winking. "I'll behave tonight, a promise on my word as a freewheeling bisexual."

* * *

"Wow, Alec you look great. Is that the mask Izzy got you?" Alec blushes from the compliment, reaching up to feel the mask he was wearing.

"Thanks Jace. Yeah she showed it to me about an hour ago when I came-"

"Fuck me angel, Alec look at her," he interrupts, looking from the balcony into the large room below where most of the guests had gathered in wait for the night to be started. He walks to where Jace is standing, looking out into the crowd. "That one there, in the green," he points to a girl with fiery red hair standing off from the main crowd with another woman with hair of a similar shade. Alec recognises her almost immediately, despite the mask.

"That's Clarissa Fairchild, Jace. That new girl who just recently came to Alicante. Her mother was keeping her hidden because the Clave believed Valentine Morgenstern that she had attacked him and stolen his daughter." Jace scowls and shakes his head. "I can't believe we were stupid enough to think he was some fine upstanding shadowhunter. I hadn't heard the two came back to Idris though, especially not that the daughter was so . . . that."

Alec steps away not really caring about Jace's passing infatuations. He shudders however as his mind passes over the events of the previous months. Valentine Morgenstern, a wealthy and influential shadowhunter had been suspected of minor corruption in the Clave, so without his knowledge, an inquisition was opened into his private life. The inquisitor at the time had been expecting tax evasion and perhaps minor political bribes but when she started to get to the heart of his life she found illegal funding of non-clave organisations, participation in Idris' sex and drug syndicate, and a plan to remove a number of the council members. Knowing that immediate action needed to be taken, inquisitor Herondale led a strike force against Morgenstern at his estate hoping to arrest him before he caught wind of the happenings but inside the estate she and her team were ambushed. Her team pushed through and managed to secure the estate but not before Morgenstern had fled and inquisitor Herondale was mortally wounded while trying to usher the servants to a safe zone.

Not long after, the clave had Luke Garroway track down Morgenstern's wife and daughter to bring them back to Alicante as a way of apologising for not believing them. So far they hadn't been to very many social events and tended to stay in their home. Alec got the feeling they weren't entirely comfortable in this setting just yet.

In a flourish of black and white, Isabelle strides onto the balcony, doing a small spin for her brothers. "Are you ready? Mum and dad are coming to start the night." She glances at Jace still gazing down into the crowd. "He okay?"

Alec rolls his eyes lets Izzy take his arm. "Yeah he's fine - just found a new obsession." Izzy shrugs and grabs Jace anyway, forcing the two of them to escort her to the guests.


End file.
